Fred Adair reminded everyone of the importance of our efforts with the Polio Plus program.

PROGRAM: Mo Considine introduced the two students from Olympia High School who went on foreign exchange trips through Rotary last year.

Karlie Reiter spent a year in Barcelona, Spain. Her experience included many delicious local foods and the interesting political situation involving Catalonia’s quest for independence from Spain. Her host family’s father was pro-Spain and her host mother was pro-Catalonia for independence. 9/11 is Independence Day in Catalonia, which was a unique experience. Karli played on a soccer team while she was there and some of her biggest highlights were her three trips to watch Barcelona’s soccer team play. Her third game she finally got to see Lionel Messi play and score a goal. She definitely plans on visiting Spain again in the future.

Adam Peters spent a year in Lopburi, Thailand. Adam was the tallest person in the school and was asked to sing the national anthem in front of the entire 4,000 person student body on the first day of school. Adam was also asked to perform Frank Sinatra karaoke songs as entertainment for his local Rotary club. Adam’s family spoke no English, so he was forced to dive right into learning Thai. He was bit by a monkey on his trip and had to get rabies shots. Thailand was very hot, sometimes 100 degrees at night, so Adam was happy his family was in the business of making fans. His favorite experience was going to the Temple at Uthai Thani where he learned to meditate and all about Buddhism.